Standards for Business Component Markets

The idea of component-based software systems and markets for the exchange of components dates back to the late 1960s. However, so far no large-scale components markets can be found. The purpose of this chapter is to present a more in-depth analysis of the conditions that have to be met for the successful realization of this idea. Three perspectives are presented: first, a system-theoretic perspective; second, an economic perspective; and third, a knowledge-codification perspective of standardization. As we want to argue, the problem should be considered as an empirical question that depends to a large extent on the future technological development and its outcome, like specification techniques, software verification standards, and the performance and maturity of existing systems.